"Unfinished business" - Tour de France champ Chris Froome to lead Team Sky at Vuelta

Team Sky have confirmed that Tour de France champion Chris Froome will lead the British WorldTour outfit in the Vuelta, which starts in Galicia in the north west of Spain this Saturday – a race with which he says he has “unfinished business.”

It will be the 31-year-old’s fifth participation in the race, which he first rode in 2011 finishing second to the Geox-TMC rider, Juan Jose Cobo.

In that year’s edition, Froome held the race lead after Stage 10 but somewhat controversially, team orders saw him cede the leader’s red jersey the following day to Sir Bradley Wiggins, who would finish third.

With Froome finishing that race as the stronger of the team’s two riders, the episode helped lead to the difficult relationship between the pair at the following year’s Tour de France, won by Wiggins with Froome runner-up.

In 2014, Froome clinched another runners-up spot at the Vuelta, but he abandoned last year’s race with a broken ankle following a crash during Stage 11, as he sought to become just the third man to win the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same season.

Jacques Anquetil in 1963 and Bernard Hinault in 1978 both achieved the double, but in the days when the Vuelta was the earlier race, before moving to its current late season slot in 1995.

It’s a strong field this year, with Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana of Movistar just the pick of those who will be challenging for the overall victory.

Froome, who last week won his second successive Olympic time trial bronze medal, said: “It’s already been a great summer for both myself and the team, but the Vuelta is another big challenge for us.

“The tough course and stiff competition is bound to make for some aggressive racing.  We’re going there with a strong group of guys who have a lot of experience with this race.*

“The Vuelta is a race I really enjoy and where I guess you could say I have unfinished business, so I’m looking forward to getting started.”

He will be supported in the three-week race by a team packed with strong riders and climbing specialists, including the Spanish rider Mikel Landa and the Polish pairing of former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski and Michal Golas.

Also lining up for Sky will be ex-British champion Peter Kennaugh, who missed the Tour de France as he recovered from a broken collarbone, the American rider Ian Boswell, Germany’s Christian Knees and the Czech Republic’s Leopold König.